A Quick Check-Up
by MusicRocks807
Summary: Greed is on a mission to steal the power of god from Father, but discovers he's being tailed. Ling insists they stop for just a moment, for a quick check-up on her. (Lingfan fluff with hints of Greed, set the night before the Promised Day).


**This isn't quite the Greedlingfan fest I had originally intended, but I love these guys an awful lot so I'm posting it anyway. Have some fluff :)**

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Greed knew he was being followed. Even without his homunculus senses, he wasn't stupid; those two guards had barely taken their eyes off him since he arrived, he would have been surprised if they hadn't pursued him. Although, when he did try to identify them, he only sensed the girl.

"Any reason I'm only getting her?" He asked Ling - in their head, so she wouldn't hear. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."

Ling seemed to sigh. "Most likely, she noticed before Fu did, and followed immediately in case she lost you." Another long-suffering sigh. "Even though getting back-up would've made sense, since she's chasing a _homunculus_..."

"Impulsive, huh?" Greed mused. "I like that. I can work with impulsive."

"You won't be working with her at all," Ling warned him. "Make sure she loses your trail and leave her alone."

"Are you sure? Looked like her arm was acting up before, don't you want to make sure it's okay now before the big day?"

Greed had expected to step on a nerve, but he hadn't expected the kid to growl. "Shut up, Greed. We both know you couldn't care less about her well-being - or anybody else's, for that matter."

"Hey, give me some credit, alright?" He grumbled, leaping to the next tree. "I have some standards, piss-ant."

"Fine." In the back of his mind, Ling folded his arms over his chest and scowled. "Then check her arm, tell her to go to damn sleep already, and get away from her. Nothing else."

"Jeez, what's your problem with fun?"

He knew she was just below him, a few trees back, probably keeping her distance so he didn't notice her. Too late for that. He waited for her to jump and then paused; she couldn't stop her momentum and ended up a little closer than she had intended. She froze completely, but Greed was already smirking.

The homunculus was leaping through the air before she could retreat. He tackled her straight out of the tree and clutched her to him, encasing himself in his Ultimate Shield and twisting to take the impact on his back. He flipped them quickly and pinned her arms above her head, her legs crushed between his knees. Her eyes were wide and she was gasping, trying to struggle free despite knowing it was fruitless. It brought a little grin to his face.

"Dammit Greed, be careful with her!" Ling snapped.

"Relax kid, I know what I'm doing," he murmured. Possibly out loud, considering how the girl paused.

She was hard to read with that ridiculous mask over her face, and Greed was curious; he wanted to know how good a lady the kid had been hiding. So he leaned down towards the mouth of her mask, his hot breath on her lips, and took the rim in his teeth. He pulled it free easily and pitched it into a nearby bush, probably because she was too startled to fight back. She was pretty underneath - big dark eyes and smooth pale skin, with the hint of a bright blush seeping into her cheeks.

A low whistle escaped his lips. "Damn. Princey really knows how to pick 'em."

Her eyes flitted over his face, soaking it in and most likely searching for an escape. Then she hissed, "Get off of me, homunculus."

This time, he chuckled. "There we go. There's a bit of fire."

Again he leaned down, this time tracing his tongue along the shell of her ear. He tugged on her lobe with his teeth, growling in the back of his throat. The girl shivered beneath him, still squirming to get free. His lips moved to her jaw and she growled back.

"I _said_ get off of me."

Her voice was firmer than he had expected. He liked it. He wondered if he could make her lose some of that control.

"Greed…" Ling snarled, fists clenched.

Thinking that maybe he shouldn't push them too far just yet, Greed huffed. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm getting to it." Turning back to the confused girl beneath him, he smirked. "Sorry about that. Kid's raising a few complaints."

"The young lord is not a 'kid'," she spat, "and I am not your plaything. What do you want?"

"Well, I'd like to know why you're following me, but I can probably figure that out on my own." He winked and savoured the fire in her eyes. "And what _I_ want from you, you're probably not going to give. So, I'm relaying a message from the kid himself."

She didn't correct him. The prospect of hearing from her 'young lord' seemed to have distracted her somewhat. "Are you going to let him speak? Since it is _his_ body."

"Hey, he gave it to me," Greed reminded her, "so don't go blaming me. But yeah, I think I'll let him handle the sappy stuff. Unless you're up for a little bit of fun first…"

His mouth hovered over hers, his breath tickling her lips. He ran his tongue across his own, teeth glinting in the darkness. She stared back up at him, eyes narrowed.

He laughed. "Worth a shot. Maybe next time, toots."

And then a sudden shift came over the beast above her. Within seconds the grey had vanished from his skin, his red eyes melting into a softer black. As his muscles began to loosen and his face began to frown, Lan Fan knew the young lord had regained control.

Ling groaned, releasing her arms and sliding off of her. "Sorry about that, Lan Fan. Greed can get a bit out of control when he wants something."

She didn't ask what he wanted because she was afraid of the answer. Instead, she rolled onto her knees into a kowtow, her head resting on the trampled grass beneath them. "Thank you, my lord."

He waved her off, shaking his head. "Don't bother with all that. How's your arm?"

Lan Fan blinked in confusion. "W-what?"

"Your arm." He reached out, ran his fingers along the metal. When he traced up to her shoulder, there was a tiny bit of blood smudging its sheen. "Is it okay?"

"It's… it's fine. It's just a little t-tender." She couldn't help the stammer that escaped as his hand trailed around her shoulder, settling on the back of her neck and gently rubbing the skin. "Are you injured?"

"No, no, Ultimate Shield and all that." Ling stood then; immediately Lan Fan copied. He smiled at her and beckoned her closer, spreading his arms wide. "Can we break protocol just this once, Lan Fan?"

She should have said no. Her grandfather would, if he saw them. If he had followed them out and caught them like this, it would be disastrous. It would be disastrous for the Young Lord, if any of his enemies discovered how attached he was to his servants. Everything in her culture and her training and her being should have said no.

Instead, she stepped into his embrace. He seemed as surprised as she was, but he reacted faster, wrapping his arms around her and tucking her head under his chin.

"This is nice," he said with sincerity. "We should do this more often."

Lan Fan didn't bother explaining why they couldn't. She swallowed the panic rising in her chest and slipped her arms around his waist, feeling strong muscle tense as she made contact. They stood together for what felt like an eternity, Lan Fan desperately trying not to breathe on him while Ling smirked into her hair. She withdrew when he did, though his hands lingered on her shoulders.

"Right, let's see about this arm then, shall we?" He muttered, guiding her over to the nearest tree.

The emperor-to-be sat against the tree's base with his legs spread wide in front of him; he patted the space between them and Lan Fan felt all of her blood rushing to her face.

"That is inappropriate, my lord," she reminded him, a dangerous tone to her voice.

Ling ignored it as usual, a beaming grin on his face. "But aren't we breaking protocol this once? Just come here, it'll be easier for me to help if you sit with me."

"You do not need to help me," she protested, but she joined him anyway.

She very pointedly sat beside him; unperturbed, Ling simply dragged her into his lap, her back pressing against his chest. Before Lan Fan could argue with him, his fingers were pushing against the flesh of her shoulder, and she had to snap her mouth shut before she groaned.

"Don't these operations take a while to recover from?" Ling mused as he massaged her shoulder, seemingly oblivious to her distress. "You seem to be back in action awfully fast."

"I'm useless if I cannot protect you," she stated simply. "I cannot protect you if I'm on bedrest."

He pulled his legs up closer to her, and she struggled in vain not to touch them. His touch was almost unbearably pleasant now, the aches in her muscles finally abating. A moan was swelling in her throat and she furiously fought it back. If she moaned under the Young Lord's touch the heavens might never forgive her.

"But you also can't protect me if you rush this and it doesn't heal," he replied calmly, "so are you sure you should be fighting?"

"Yes." Finally, Lan Fan's voice had strengthened again. She spoke with fierce conviction when she said, "I will fight for you as long as I am able to breathe, my lord." When he began to argue, she set a hand on his knee to silence him. "But I will fight for our friends as well, and their country. These beasts cannot have their way with these people."

"Oi, who's she calling a beast?" Greed grumbled in the back of his mind.

Ling ignored him, staring in shock at the back of Lan Fan's head. He had not ordered her or Fuu to fight for Amestris, or even the Elrics. It was a decision she had made on her own, and announced to him of her own accord. Some of his siblings would have punished their retainers for such autonomy. He felt it warm his heart.

Abandoning the massage, he threw his arms around her again, laughing at the little yelp she released. "I've missed you, Lan Fan. Please stay safe tomorrow, I can't imagine being an emperor without you."

She didn't respond, but he hadn't really expected her to. At least she didn't pull away when he lay his face upon her uninjured shoulder, breathing in her scent like oxygen. Her body tensed when he brushed a kiss against her cheek, but he pulled back before she could move.

"As soon as this is over, I'm stealing you for some quality catching-up time," he vowed. "Just having fun, like when we were kids. We can trade stories of our journeys."

Though he couldn't see her face, he heard the wry smile in her voice. "I am sure you won't enjoy most of mine, my lord. Although the time spent with May Chang might amuse you."

Ling snorted. "May Chang? The little girl with the braids, and the tiny bear-cat? You're right, I definitely want to hear that one! Most of my stories involve Greed's foul temper, but some of 'em are still pretty good."

The homunculus was piping up in protest, but Lan Fan's shoulders had slumped and she was twisting to face him, so he tuned the complaints out. "Young Lord, if I may ask… Why did you accept the monster? Alphonse told me it was on purpose, but I just can't understand…"

"It was on purpose," he agreed. "I needed the Philosopher's Stone, so we could return to our country triumphant. I underestimated Greed's… _spirit_ a little bit, but he's not all bad, and the shield is pretty useful."

Lan Fan's eyes dropped to his hands, studying the dragon on his skin. "What _is_ the shield, my lord?" she thought it could be useful in the future. She didn't realise how _near_ in the future.

"Carbon, I think." Ling lifted the hand she was staring at and cupped her jaw with it. "Yeah, he rearranges the carbon until it's as resilient as diamond. Ed transmuted it in reverse once, into graphite."

"Keep out of my memories, piss-ant," the homunculus interjected, but he didn't sound angry enough to really mean it.

Meanwhile, his guard was raising her flesh hand to cradle his, perhaps subconsciously. Her skin was far more calloused, with little scrapes and scars that she couldn't just regenerate over. Fleetingly, Ling wished he knew how to share the Philosopher's Stone.

"I am glad he can protect you," said Lan Fan eventually, her eyes drifting up to meet his, "but make sure he knows that if he causes you any harm, I will cut him out of your body with a single kunai if I must."

He chuckled. "I think he's gathered that, Lan Fan, but I appreciate the protectiveness."

Greed was trembling in the back of his mind now, itching to get going and set his plan in motion. "C'mon kid, I'm sick of the sappy stuff. I've got things to do! If we're not getting any fun out of 'er, let's get moving!"

Ling glanced back down at Lan Fan, unmasked and in closer contact than she had allowed since they were children, and indulged himself with a few images of Greed's 'fun'. His skin rose in goosebumps as he imagined it and he almost lost his control, but one of Greed's little chortles set him straight again. He pressed a final kiss to her forehead as slowly as he could, his hand lingering on her face even as he leaned back.

"You should get some rest," he blurted. "You know, before the big day. Go back to the others and get some sleep."

"What about you?" She asked immediately, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Where does the monster want you to go?"

"He has a few plans of his own he wants to work on," Ling admitted, "but it's not anything dangerous. We'll see you tomorrow Lan Fan, I'm certain."

She hesitated, then, "Let me come with you. I will stay at your side, where I belong."

"We're not bringing her," Greed told him. "Not a chance. It's not safe and I'm sure as hell not bringing a liability down to meet Father. She can fight if she's stupid enough, but she's not coming with us."

Privately, Ling agreed. Lan Fan was an amazing warrior, but she was also amazingly stubborn, and amazingly bad at recognising her own limits. He had seen that arm acting up on her in the forest; if it did that while Greed was claiming the power of god from the father of the homunculi, it definitely wouldn't end well.

"Fine," he conceded. "But if we get that god power like you're planning, the first thing you're doing is healing her."

"Well, yeah." Greed smirked. "What good is a broken toy?"

Lan Fan was still staring at him, a determined expression on her face. He couldn't find the words, but he didn't need to. When he shook his head, she understood, slumping in on herself. Part of him wanted to reach for her, but he knew he wouldn't be able to let go again.

"I'm sorry, Lan Fan. It's safer if you stay with the others."

"I'll find you." She hissed. "I'll follow you if I have to."

"No, you won't." The voice was deeper than the Young Lord's, harsher. She had just about placed it when something smacked into the side of her head.

Ling watched from the back of his own mind as Lan Fan collapsed, Greed's arms landing around her, the hand he had hit her with still coated in the Ultimate Shield. The homunculus lifted her with ease, slinging her over one shoulder the way Ling had done a thousand years ago.

"Don't start, kid," Greed warned him. "You know as well as I do, she would've kept her word."

"Yeah…"

Upon Ling's request, Greed fished the discarded mask out of the bushes before he left, looping the strings around her organic wrist. They didn't go all the way back to the camp in case they were spotted, but they moved until it was in sight before setting Lan Fan down. She looked remarkably peaceful curled up on the ground, no worries or fears etching lines into her brow.

"You know, I think I like her best like this," Greed mused.

Ling huffed. "I'll try not to read too much into that. Remember Greed, she's mine."

Greed laughed in response. "Listen Princey, I'm chasing the power of _god_ _himself_. Do you really think I'm not going to get her, too?"


End file.
